Cancer, Tropic of See Tropic of Cancer
Cancun \kan-'kiin\ City (pop., 2000: 397,191) and island resort, south¬ eastern Mexico. The city, on the northeastern coast of the Yucatan Pen¬ insula, is a service town for the resort on Cancun Island (13 mi [21 km] long), which is connected by a causeway to the city. Originally settled by Maya Indians, the area was first described by John Lloyd Stephens and Fre¬ derick Catherwood in their Incidents of Travel in Yucatan (1843). Can¬ cun remained a fishing village until 1970, when the area was selected as a suitable site for a resort. The plan proved hugely successful; today Can¬ cun is one of Mexico’s busiest resorts.
Candela \kan-'da-l9\, Felix (b. Jan. 27, 1910, Madrid, Spain—d. Dec. 7, 1997, Durham, N.C., U.S.) Spanish Mexican engineer and architect. He immigrated to Mexico in 1939 and began to design and construct buildings there. His ferroconcrete structures are distinguished by thin, curved shells that are extremely strong and economical; his imaginative use of paraboloid barrel-vaulting helped dispel mistaken notions of the limits of this material. Notable works include the expressionistic church of Nuestra Senora de los Milagros in Mexico City (1955), with a hyper¬ bolic paraboloid roof of ferroconcrete only 1.5 in. (3.8 cm) thick.
Candida Vkan-do-doX Any of the parasitic imperfect fungi (see fungus) that make up the genus Candida, which resemble yeasts and occur espe¬ cially in the mouth, vagina, and intestinal tract. Though usually benign, Candidas can become pathogenic, causing diseases including candidiasis and thrush.
Candlemas (February 2) In the Christian church, the celebration of the presentation of the infant Jesus and the post-childbirth purification of Mary in the Temple, in accordance with Jewish law. The Greek church calls it Hypapante (“Meeting”) in reference to Jesus’ meeting there with Simeon, to whom it had been revealed that he would not die before meeting the Messiah. The festival is first documented in Jerusalem in the late 4th cen¬ tury; the custom of observing it with lighted candles (the source of its name) dates to at least the mid-5th century. The popular nonreligious holiday Groundhog Day developed, in part, from the medieval tradition that certain animals interrupted their hibernation on this day.
Candolle \ka n -'d6l\, Augustin (Pyrame de) (b. Feb. 4, 1778, Geneva, Switz.—d. Sept. 9, 1841, Geneva) Swiss botanist. In Paris (from 1796) he became an assistant to Georges Cuvier and worked with Lamarck on revising his botanical works. He carried out a government- commissioned botanical and agricultural survey of France (1806-12). In 1813 he published his most important work, Theorie elementaire de la botanique, in which he contended that plant anatomy, not physiology, must be the basis of classification, for which he coined the term taxonomy. He introduced the concept of homologous parts for plants (following Cuvi¬ er’s work on animals). From 1817 until his death he taught at the Uni¬ versity of Geneva. He outlined systematic laws of botanical nomenclature (1818-21); his taxonomy suffered from certain weaknesses, but he achieved extensive subdivision of flowering plants, describing 161 fami¬ lies of dicotyledons, and his system supplanted that of Carolus Linnaeus. He completed seven volumes of a descriptive classification of all known seed plants (from 1824).
Candomble \ l kan-dom- , bla\ Variant of Macumba, a syncretic Afro- Brazilian religion most prominent in the Brazilian state of Bahia. Incor¬ porating elements of Roman Catholicism, Candomble is the most African of the Afro-Brazilian sects. Its deities, called orixas, have distinct per¬ sonalities (often capricious) and are associated with occupations, colours,
days of the week, and natural phenomena. Rituals include animal sacri¬ fice, spirit offerings, and dances. See also Macumba; vodun.
Candra Gupta See Chandragupta Maurya Candra Gupta II See Chandra Gupta II
candy Sweet sugar- or chocolate-based confection. The Egyptians made candy from honey (combined with figs, dates, nuts, and spices), sugar being unknown. With the spread of sugarcane cultivation in the 15th cen¬ tury, the industry began to grow. In the late 18th century the first candy¬ manufacturing machinery was produced. The main ingredients are cane and beet sugars combined with other carbohydrate foods such as corn syrup, cornstarch, honey, molasses, and maple sugar. To the sweet base are added chocolate, fruits, nuts, peanuts, eggs, milk, flavours, and colours. Common varieties include hard candies (crystallized sugar), caramels and toffees, nougats, jellies, fondants, marshmallows, marzipans, truffles, cot¬ ton candies, licorices, and chewing gums.
cane Hollow or pithy and usually slender and flexible jointed stem (as of a reed). Also, any of various slender woody stems, especially an elon¬ gated flowering or fruiting stem (as of a rose) usually arising directly from the ground. The term is also applied to any of various tall woody grasses or reeds, including the coarse grasses of the genus Arundinaria (see bam¬ boo), SUGARCANE, and SORGHUM.
Canetti, Elias (b. July 25, 1905, Ruse, Bulg.—d. Aug. 14, 1994, Zurich, Switz.) Bulgarian-born British nov¬ elist and playwright. Canetti was from a Spanish-speaking Jewish family. His best-known work, the novel Auto-da-Fe (1935), deals with the dangers in believing that detached intellectualism can prevail over evil and chaos. He settled in Britain in 1938. Later works that reflect his interest in the psychopa¬ thology of power include Crowds and Power (1960); the plays The Wedding (1932), Comedy of Vanity (1950), and Life-Terms (1964); and his series of autobiographies begin¬ ning with The Tongue Set Free (1977). He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1981.
Cange \'ka n zh\, Charles du Fresne, Lord du (b. Dec. 18,
1610, Amiens, France—d. Oct. 23,
1688, , Paris) French scholar. Du Cange’s most important works, A Glossary for Writers of Middle and Low Latin (1678) and A Glossary for Writers of Middle and Low Greek (1688), made use of his encyclopaedic knowledge not only of languages but of history, law, archaeology, and geography. His historical approach and effort to distinguish medieval vocabularies from their classical counter¬ parts inspired later scholars to examine the development of language from a historical perspective. Frequently reedited, his dictionaries retained their usefulness through the 20th century.
canine or canid Vka-nod, 'ka-nodX Any domestic or wild dog or dog¬ like mammal (e.g., wolf, jackal, fox) in the family Canidae, found through¬ out the world except in Antarctica and on most ocean islands. Canines tend to be slender and long-legged, with a long muzzle, bushy tail, erect pointed ears, and well-developed canine and cheek teeth. They prey on all types of animals; some also eat carrion and vegetable matter. They probably were the first animals to be domesticated. Though helpful in controlling rodent and rabbit populations, canines have been hunted for their pelts and slaughtered to prevent their reputed (and sometimes real) destruction of livestock and large game.
cankerworm See looper
canna Any of the tropical herbaceous plants that make up the family Cannaceae, of the ginger order (Zingiberales), containing a single genus with about 55 species, found from southeastern North America through South America. Cannas have rhizomes with erect stems growing to 10 ft (3 m) high. The green or bronze leaves are spirally arranged. The flow¬ ers are asymmetrical. Spotted variations of the scarlet, red-orange, or yel-
Canetti
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326 I cannabis ► canoe
low flowers sometimes occur. The genus Canna is widely grown for ornamental use. C. edulis, from Peru, has edible, starchy rhizomes.
cannabis Vka-n3-b9s\ Any plant of the genus Cannabis, which contains a single species, C. sativa. It is widely cultivated throughout the northern temperate zone. Hemp fiber is obtained from a tall, canelike variety, while marijuana is obtained from the female plant of a smaller variety.